Rant #1 Sub-Channels

In my opinion, the vast majority of sub-channels I see on Chicagoland OTA stations have no reason to exist.

Let me clarify...

In no particular order...

WMAQ-DT 5.3 Sports presented with all the picture quality and clarity of an Internet video watched over Grandma's 56K dialup connection...

What was wrong with weather, or even *GASP* doing weather and traffic updates on a live as it happens basis???

WTTW-DT 11.2 to 11.99...

OK...

there aren't really THAT many subs on WTTW-DT, but there are more than are reasonable to support what USED to be THE single most stunning broadcast HD channel there was...

When I was a contracted Comcast Cable Installer, back when High Definition Television was more like a mystic art than how TV should be watched, tuning the HD WTTW-HDTV channel in glorious 1080i was more like a magic journey to whatever wonderous place was being shown, rather than the mundane task of simply changing a TV Channel.

Unfortunately, WTTW chose to lower their HD broacast resolution from 1080i to the lesser, but still respectable 720p resolution and bitstarved the HD feed by adding not 1 or 2, but *4* sub-channels in total.

Again, my opinion is that at the 720p resolution, WTTW-DT could have offered a reasonable full bitstream HD channel and no more than 2 480i or p sub-channels and kept most of the stunning realisim of their old 1080i HD glory days.

To be continued...